Wednesday, April 25, 2007

j's indie/rock mayhem - 25th april 2007

[a fantastic, horn-swaggaling episode of the show tonight. my theme song is once again M.I.A. and i neglected to burn my copy of it, cos that's how i roll. next week, all will be better. the skin of the person who stole the cd will be drying in the eaves of my house and i'll once again have a theme song.

congratulations to joe and mike, winners of tonight's giveaways. joe won the $15 gift certificate to BB's new and used CDs and DVDs by correctly naming some of the athens, georgia bands discussed in the first half of my interview with daniel hutchens. mike won a copy of hutchens' new solo album, love songs for losers, courtesy of the really nice people at autumn tone records. he correctly named the magazine (paste) in which hutchens was named one of the greatest living songwriters. thanks to all who called and participated.

i'd love to start hearing your thoughts on the weekly notes from underground feature. if you have an opinion about the topic, make sure you leave a comment. i'd love to get some great discussions brewing. now, onward.]

Andrew Bird - "Heretics" [from the achingly beautiful armchair apocrypha. giving my top 25 albums of 2007 list some fully formed members already.]>the Clientele - "Bookshop Casanova" [from the forthcoming god save the clientele which is out in a few weeks. i've really liked everything i've heard off this album so far. the clientele in general will have the ability to sneak up on people - they make classic sleeper records.]Girls Against Boys - "Disco Six Six Six" [from the album that introduced me to them - house of GVSB. their last album for touch and go records before their tumble through the majors. i relistened to this entire album last night for the first time in probably years and it's lost none of its punch - no one really sounds like these guys.]Ultramagnetic MCs - "Give the Drummer Some" [from critical beatdown. i bought this album because of some liner note mentions by black thought from some roots album (i think, things fall apart) and having enjoyed some kool keith solo ventures also. it's a pretty raw and revelatory piece of early 90s hip-hop.]Blur - "There's No Other Way" [from their debut, leisure. dancey and hooky in a way a lot of british music was in the early 90s - also in a way that blur would all but abandon after their second album.]>Dinosaur Jr. - "We're Not Alone" [from the forthcoming album beyond which is out next week. i can't say enough good things about this record - everyone in the band seems to be energized and writing like they haven't in years. aside from mission of burma, this has been the only big reunion record in the past 5 or 6 years that has truly made me happy the band came back.]Jerry Harrison - "Rev It Up" (To Heller and Back Mix) [by request. caller wanted to hear this track from the casual gods album, but this single 12" mix was what i dug up instead. harrison's second solo album material sounds a lot like the band he's most famous for being in (...you know it...c'mon..) and that's not a bad thing.]Built to Spill - "Conventional Wisdom" [by request. from last year's you in reverse. i enjoy built to spill a lot, but i haven't thought about this record much since it's release. is that a statement to its staying power, or lack thereof? it's a good album - but i'm still pulling out keep it like a secret which i think of them.]Toad the Wet Sprocket - "Rings" [from their '97 swan-song, coil. the album is a bit overcooked in places, but when it connects (like on this, the really blistering "amnesia," "whatever i fear," and a few others) it's a great listen.]

[here's where the interview with daniel hutchens was played. i broke the interview into two parts, playing some songs by hutchens and one by his major-project/band bloodkin also. if you'd like to listen to just the interview, you can click here for part one and you can click here for part two.]

Daniel Hutchens - "Haunting Montezuma" [from love songs for losers. an eerie, slow-burning rocker with some great allusions built in.]Bloodkin - "Tennessee Williams" (live) [recorded by the folks at southern shelter, a blog dedicated solely to recordings of live shows in athens, georgia. one of my favorite bloodkin songs done up in grand style.]>Daniel Hutchens - "Underground Cafe, 1923" [from love songs for losers. a really whistful and gorgeous song.]>Daniel Hutchens - "Blood From the Rock" [great rock a little closer to hutchens' bloodkin work. also from love songs for losers.]Filthybird - "Warm Womb" [now i've been waiting for this. filthybird has been a standard part of the greensboro scene here for some time and now they finally get off the ground with their debut album. this is really, really good stuff. their cd release party is this saturday, april 28th, at the flatiron here in greensboro starting at 10pm.]the Replacements - "Androgynous" [from let it be. not the song that immediately leaps to mind for me to play by the 'mats, but sure enough, this afternoon it did just that. it's a sweet counterpoint to the resigned lonliness of "sixteen blue" and the frustration of "answering machine" later on in the album.]the National - "Fake Empire" [from the forthcoming album the boxer which is coming here in may. get excited. get very excited.]>Bill Callahan - "Diamond Dancer" [from his first album without the (smog) moniker - woke on a whaleheart. a bit more uptempo than a lot of smog's work, this record is something the check out. we'll be hearing more.]Fountains of Wayne - "New Routine" [from traffic and weather. i like this song probably the most as far as the out-and-out 'rockers' go on this record - even if the 'bring me back an eggroll' line is kind of limp. there's a great interview with adam schlesinger of fountains of wayne up over at the AV club.]the Avett Brothers - "Will You Return?" [from the forthcoming emotionalism. i like this song a lot. the avetts sound great with some percussion behind them - let's hope this is a continuing trend.]Track a Tiger - "Saint About to Fall" [from the as yet unreleased we moved like ghosts. the deep elm records website (the south carolina label distributing the album) says it'll be available this month, but i've yet to see it emerge. april's almost over, guys! get crackin'!]>the Rosebuds - "Cemetery Lawn" [from night of the furies. this record isn't generating the fury (hah!) i thought it might - rather critics are giving it pretty universal praise. looks like their sound gamble paid dividends.]Blair - "Blues Song" [more from the new orleans songwriter we debuted last week. again, go check out her myspace to hear some more and we'll be hearing her new EP later this spring hopefully.]Hayden - "Bad as They Seem" [you'll be hearing a lot of things like this - i'm in the slow process of ripping all my cds to my external harddrive and it's led me to revisit a lot of music from early in my collection. this is from his debut, everything i long for. the susan smith song, "when this is over," still is as haunting as the actual event.]

That's going to do it for this week. Check back on Friday for a new Notes from Underground and I'll be back next week with more new content and next week's show! Take care.